I’ve been an on and off again geocacher over the years. The treasure hunt aspect of it is a lot of fun, plus it takes you to new and interesting places you might not have otherwise visited. One of the fun aspects of geocaching is watching travel bugs take a journey around the world.

Eric, an obvious geocaching fan, sent in the picture above of his travel bug tattoo. It’s a real, live travel bug with a tracking number. Here’s hoping it doesn’t get swept away by high waters like one of my travel bugs. Ink was by Skin Kitchen Tattoo in Des Moines, IA.

Almost 40 years ago the Pioneer 10 spacecraft was launched into space to do a fly-by study of Jupiter. In addition to a bunch of science gear, Pioneer 10 had a gold-anodized aluminum plaque designed by Carl Sagan on board with some (arguably cryptic) symbols on them. If it happens to be intercepted by extraterrestrial life, the hope is that this information will provide information on the origin of the spacecraft and the inhabitants of Earth (as long as the Klingons don’t destroy it first).

The symbols include a sketch of the solar system with the spacecraft’s planned trajectory, drawings of naked people anatomically correct representations of male and female humans, the relative position of the sun to several pulsars, and a representation of the hyperfine transition of hydrogen.

We last heard from Pioneer 10 in 2003, but prior to that it was able to send back stunning photos of Jupiter on it’s trajectory out of the solar system. Anderson Fernandes sent me some pictures from a much closer location, Brazil. He’s working on a tattoo of the Pioneer 10 plaque on his arm. He’s gotten the hyperfine transition of hydrogen schematic, and is planning on the solar system representation next. I think it would be a shame to miss out on being 100% accurate and not get the naked people.

Ed Note: This post has been sitting in my inbox for quite some time now. Every time I would sit down to write it, I’d get sucked into learning about all the spacecrafts we’ve shot into space and how they’re going thousands of miles an hour and are billions of miles away. Plus the controversy over the plaque, what it was intended to mean, etc. I highly recommend setting aside an hour to get lost in Wikipedia and all the related sites.

Bridget Phipps is a huge Nintendo fan who took her favorite video games and tattooed them on her body. She’s got three of the classics: Duck Hunt, Legend Of Zelda, and Resident Evil (the text is the Umbrella Corp motto from the 1st RE). There’s some joke in here about a light gun in her pocket, but we’re above that sort of humor here at GeekyTattoos.com. Wait, no we aren’t. It IS a light gun in her pocket, but she’s also happy to share her tattoos with everyone.

Everyone loves a good Final Fantasy tattoo, and when I saw Blaize’s I knew I had to post it. It’s the final stage of the L’Cie brand from Final Fantasy XIII. The bright red and strong crisp black lines are great. Of course the tattoo is fresh from Blaize’s visit to Pooley at Skins & Needles in Leicester, UK.

Erica sent in her tattoo of a Game Boy Color complete with pixelated heart. She says that thanks to the Game Boy Color she developed a love for video games, which has landed her in school for programming so she can make video games, which will in turn inspiring other girls to get into programming; and the cycle continues..

June Eleven is the owner of the Tick tattoo above. She explains why she got it:

I worship and adore Ben Edlund. I’ve been a huge fan of his work since I was but a wee lass, and I even spent a couple of hours harassing him in person at my first convention in 1997. I carry his autograph with me at all times, and he is a great inspiration to me in my life and my work. I just wish he would stop writing with Joss Whedon…Anyway, the idea for this tattoo came the last time I watched season 1 of The Tick cartoon. I’ve had this DVD for years and seen the entire thing several times. This time, however, one episode in particular struck a different chord. It occurred to me that “Tick Vs Proto Clown” was a metaphor for the entire last 2 years of my existence. I decided then and there exactly which image would go where, and within 4 months the tattoo was done.

She got the tattoo done by her good friend, Lora LaVonne Moore (aka Lolli), over at Underground Ink in Georgia.

This is the symbol from the front of the Doctor’s fob watch, seen in the “Human Nature” and “Family of Blood” episodes of Doctor Who. Since this watch was directly involved with the Doctor’s transformation (Gallifreyan – Human) I thought it was appropriate since I transformed myself last year by losing 100 lbs!

The tattoo was done by the excellent Tom Sardinha at Shogun Tattoo in Salem, NH.

Team Fortress 2 is one of those games that sucks up your time. You spend hours and hours running around, causing explosions, shooting people with flame throwers, and trying not to die. Sounds like my typical Friday night. This *ahem* “reimagined” (link NSFW) Spy tattoo belongs to Jonathan. He says he wanted something ridiculous on his arm that would make him happy every time he looked at it. Mission accomplished. Ink was done by Ben Eliasz at Eternal Tattoos.

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About Geeky Tattoos

Geeky Tattoos is a collection of geeky tattoos that we’ve found here and there. If you’ve got an exceptionally geeky tattoo, submit it to us at submit@geekytattoos.com with a little bit of explanation (or just the picture if you want).

The site is run almost entirely by Ed Hunsinger (aka @edrabbit), a body modification enthusiast and web geek out of San Francisco.